Sarah Farrand

I have a background in medicine and biomedical science, and am a mother of one very busy little boy.

Having a science background and prior to being a parent, it never occurred to me that there were parents who had queries and concerns about vaccinating, given that the verdict has long been in on the safety and efficacy of vaccination. I also was blissfully unaware of the amount of unscientific misinformation provided on the internet which affects how new parents make their choices. It was once I moved to the Northern Rivers area to have our son that I learned of the drastically low vaccination rates around here, and suddenly felt quite frightened and concerned to be having a newborn baby in this area. This is where my passion for promoting vaccination was born.

In my journey as a parent, I also learned that a lot of parents who practice attachment parenting were not vaccinating their children, as they didn’t feel that it fit with their so-called ‘crunchy’ ideology.

I work in mental health, and have more than a background understanding of attachment theory, and so was left scratching my head about what vaccination had to do with it.

For my own child, my husband and I felt strongly about creating secure attachments for him, as well as a safe, loving and healthy environment. Vaccinations are a vital part of this.

I think that there are many choices that we have as parents, and there is often no one right way of doing things, no ‘one size fits all’ approach. Except for vaccination, which really is in the best interests of every child (and adult for that matter).

I tick many of the crunchy parenting boxes. I had a natural delivery, breastfeed, co-sleep, give my baby organic food and baby products, and use cloth nappies. For me, vaccination goes hand in hand with these choices, as it is the best way to give my baby’s immune system the best start in life. After all, his immune system doesn’t care what brand of nappies are on his bottom, or how ‘crunchy’ his mama is.

And so my passion was born, for wanting to empower parents to make the right choice about vaccinating, regardless of their other beliefs around parenting.